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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25767892">Introduction to Amorous Multiverse Theory</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/trobedrights/pseuds/trobedrights'>trobedrights</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Community (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst with a Happy Ending, Darkest Timeline, Friends to Lovers, M/M, idk i cant think of any tags theyre just in love</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 06:07:05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,041</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25767892</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/trobedrights/pseuds/trobedrights</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>No matter what happens, it's always Troy and Abed.</p><p>(Evil Troy doesn't want to be evil anymore).</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Evil Troy Barnes/Evil Abed Nadir, Troy Barnes/Abed Nadir</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>102</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Introduction to Amorous Multiverse Theory</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>i started watching community like a month ago and it's already my favorite show and i love troy &amp; abed so much that i wrote a fanfic for the first time in two years</p><p>this was sorta inspired by a blend of "so delicate the bones" by erce3 (fic about evil troy) &amp; the quote "i don't think there's a possibility where i don't love you" from "what resembles the grave but isn't", also by erce3. huh didn't even realize they were by the same person until i went to go find the evil troy fic</p><p>also apparently amorous actually means sexual desire but i like how the title sounds so i'm keeping it</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em> Timeline 1 (TROY LEAVES: The Darkest Timeline) </em>
</p><p>Evil Troy does what Evil Abed tells him to.</p><p>Because Evil Abed is there. Whether he’s wearing a felt goatee, or manipulating other Abeds, or trying desperately to go back to the prime timeline no matter how clear it is that that won’t work, he’s there.</p><p>They lay in bed at night, facing away from each other.</p><p>“I’m sorry,” says Evil Abed.</p><p>“Yeah,” says Evil Troy, and he feels like he should say something more, but they’ve had this conversation thousands of times and Evil Troy is tired of hearing about how Evil Abed wishes he had caught the die.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Timeline 2 (ANNIE LEAVES) </em>
</p><p>Abed had caught Britta smoking, which might have created the need for an intervention if Troy hadn’t caught Annie with a <em> gun </em>.</p><p>It was clear that she needed to move out of that neighborhood as soon as possible, and what better place for that than Troy and Abed’s apartment? Troy was worried she might make his and Abed’s relationship a little weird, but she actually turned out to be the perfect roommate, especially considering how little time they took to really think about the decision. So perfect that she noticed certain things a little faster than the two guys did.</p><p>“Troy,” she said one night when Abed was out hanging with Jeff, and it was just the two of them hanging out on the sofa, “have you noticed anything different lately with Abed? Any...feelings?”</p><p>Troy looked at her, confused. “Um, no? He’s awesome and I’m awesome too? Both of us are awesome? Together?”</p><p>She laughed. “No! I mean, yes, but that’s not what I’m talking about.” And so they had a discussion about feelings, and Troy realized, oh, maybe he did have a thing for Abed Nadir, and it freaked him the hell out to tell him, but once he understood his emotions, it was near impossible to keep them hidden.</p><p>So he confessed, and that was that. Troy and Abed, together.</p><p>Annie stayed in their apartment until she graduated from Greendale. It was nice to have her there, she was like a sister. And once she moved out, Troy and Abed figured it was time to move on. So they got married, and bought a house, and lived mostly happily ever after.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Timeline 1 </em>
</p><p>“I have a plan,” Evil Abed tells Evil Troy, and Evil Troy sighs because he’s heard those words too many times.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Timeline 3 (PIERCE LEAVES) </em>
</p><p>Troy and Britta started hanging out way more after their moment in the bathroom with the candy cigarettes. Abed watched from afar, just as he always did.</p><p>They did end up dating, and it was a much healthier relationship than the one that happened in the prime timeline. They truly seemed to understand each other, and put each other’s needs above their own. Sometimes Troy even put Britta’s needs above Abed’s. (Sometimes, not always, never always).</p><p>They broke it off after a couple years. They were good together, but ultimately decided that maybe they were better as friends. Britta actually went on to be a pretty successful therapist, if you can call therapists successful. Troy wanted to move on, but he didn’t know how, or where to even start. So he went back to the start. He went back to Abed.</p><p>And somewhere along the way, he realized that <em> oh</em>. Britta had been nice, but it was always going to be Abed.</p><p>They never did get married (at some point during their relationship, Britta had managed to convince Troy that marriage was a government scam), but they did spend the rest of their lives together. </p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Timeline 1 </em>
</p><p>“We merge the timelines,” says Evil Abed, and it’s clear from the way he looks that this plan was conceived in the same way that Abed figured out who the boss was (Angela) and attempted to figure out who the hell Nicolas Cage really was.</p><p>Evil Troy is pretty sure this plan is more similar to the Nicolas Cage scenario, though, because Evil Abed sounds desperate, and frantic. Something must be changing.</p><p>“What do you mean, merge the timelines?” he asks, and he can’t say he isn’t a little bit curious. “How is that even possible?”</p><p>“I don’t know yet, something with the die and maybe Jeff, but we can do it, right? Yes, we can do it. I’ll do it, I have to do it.”</p><p>“What is that even gonna fix?”</p><p>“Combines everything. All our best moments, all our worst ones. We can be us again. We can be us, Troy.”</p><p>Evil Troy thinks maybe that’s the first time Evil Abed has ever just called him “Troy”.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Timeline 4 (SHIRLEY LEAVES) </em>
</p><p>Shirley got over her anger at the rest of the group, and even got over her baking thing just a little bit. Troy did not get over that stupid troll.</p><p>It sat at the front of their apartment, grinning day and night. Abed had suggested that they just throw it away, but he clearly didn’t understand trolls. Trying to throw away a troll <em> gifted to you </em>? God, no. That would just make everything worse. He had to eat it, but Abed wouldn’t let him eat it, so he had to eat it when Abed wasn’t looking. </p><p>Behind his back, Abed bribed Pierce somehow and regifted the troll back to him. So hey, maybe Abed did know a little bit about trolls.</p><p>Seeing Abed take such a risk for him kinda gave Troy a weird feeling in his chest. He’d felt it before, but…</p><p>Ten years later, they were holding hands on a beach in LA, watching the sunset.</p><p>“I love you.”<br/>
“I know.”</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Timeline 1 </em>
</p><p>“Evil Abed,” says Evil Troy, because he can’t really stand calling him just Abed when he’s Abed without any of the <em> good </em>parts, “what’s wrong?”</p><p>“What? What do you mean what’s wrong? Everything’s been wrong since the timelines split.”</p><p>“There’s something new. I know you,” he says, and he wants to throw up because what he means is that he knows Abed, and even if he knows Evil Abed, sometimes it feels like he doesn’t at all, or maybe it’s just that he shouldn’t.</p><p>Evil Abed looks down at his hands. “You’re leaving. In the prime timeline, you’re about to leave.”</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Prime Timeline </em>
</p><p>Troy left five hours ago. Five hours, six minutes, thirty-three seconds.</p><p>Abed doesn’t think he’ll ever stop counting.</p><p>Evil Abed appears out of a portal next to him, and Abed’s not really surprised because he expected him to come to something like this.</p><p>He nods. “Evil Abed.”</p><p>“Abed.”</p><p>“Is this what you wanted?” Abed asks him tonelessly.</p><p>Evil Abed nods. “It’s all I’ve been working towards. You know that.”</p><p>“But did you want it?”</p><p>Evil Abed looks down and doesn’t respond.</p><p>“Is Troy still there?” Abed asks.</p><p>“He’s not your Troy.”</p><p>“He was until the third season. Fundamentally, his character is the same.”</p><p>“You can’t see him. You’re not supposed to go into the darkest timeline willingly.”</p><p>“But it’s not the darkest one anymore.” Abed looks at Evil Abed, hoping he’s wrong, but his evil self’s face confirms what he’s said. “So that is why you’re here, then. I’m in the darkest timeline now. Troy leaves. For good.”</p><p>“He’ll come back,” Evil Abed says, and stands up. “Good luck.”</p><p>“What? Why are you leaving me here? I’m the only one who stands any chance of fixing this timeline and making your timeline the darkest again.”</p><p>“Yes,” he says simply. “That’s why.”</p><p>“What? Evil Abed? Evil Abed!”</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Timeline 5 (ABED LEAVES) </em>
</p><p>Everyone was angry at each other. Except for Abed. Abed stood blissfully unaware in the middle of all of it, eating a slice of pizza while the rest of them glared at each other. And eventually Troy stopped glaring at Pierce and started looking at Abed without really knowing why.</p><p>He never stopped looking at Abed, and one day, he saw, and he knew.</p><p><em> He’s still nice to look at</em>, thought a sixty-year-old Troy, smiling at the man sleeping next to him.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Timeline 1 </em>
</p><p>“Abed?” Evil Troy forces himself to say, only he doesn’t think <em> he’s </em> evil anymore. Not really. He was just going along with it because it was what Abed told him to do, and Abed was the only one.</p><p>Evil Abed looks at him. “Evil Troy?”</p><p>“You called me just Troy earlier.”</p><p>“Is that what you want?”</p><p>“I don’t know. Yes?”</p><p>Evil Abed sighs. “You’re right, you know. You’re not evil anymore. We’re not the darkest timeline. So you can go now. If you want.”</p><p>“We’re not-? I can go-? What?”</p><p>Evil Abed looks at him as though it’s obvious, and Troy hates that because Abed was the one person who almost never gave him that look. And he’s pretty sure that <em> no one </em>would understand what Evil Abed is talking about right now. </p><p>“You left. In the prime timeline. And you leaving was how all of this started. So now the prime timeline is the darkest timeline, and I understand if you want to leave now that we’ve accomplished our goal.”</p><p>“What about the goal to merge the timelines?”</p><p>“You were right. I don’t think it’s possible. And it’s too late now. So yeah. Don’t prolong this anymore than it needs to be.”</p><p>“Why do you think I’m gonna leave?” Troy asks cautiously.</p><p>“That’s why you were staying, right? To fix the timelines? So that everything could be good again? So now you can leave me, because it’s all good again. And nothing I did even made that happen.”</p><p>“Evil Abed...Abed...I didn’t stay because I was waiting for you to fix the timelines. To be honest, I didn’t think the timelines would ever change.”</p><p>“Timelines are always changing.”</p><p>“That’s not the point. I stayed because of <em> you </em>. Because you’re my home, and I don’t know where I would go without you.”</p><p>He’s silent for a second, then whispers, “I don’t think I even have a heart anymore.”</p><p>“You do, I know you do. It’s just...buried. I didn’t think the merging the timelines thing was stupid because I didn’t want us to be us, with all of it, the good, the bad, and the ugly. I thought it was stupid because I thought we could just do that.”</p><p>Evil Abed lifts his head up. “We can just do that? Because we’re no longer the darkest timeline?”</p><p>Troy shakes his head. “Not because we’re no longer the darkest timeline. We could’ve done it this whole time. We could’ve just accepted everything that happened years ago. We could’ve decided to deal with the darkness and just be ourselves. You’re the one who even decided that we should be evil. <em> You can stop being evil</em>.”</p><p>Evil Abed sighs. “I don’t know if I can do that.”</p><p>“Look at the prime timeline, right now.”</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Prime Timeline </em>
</p><p>Abed is waiting. He is waiting for Troy to come home, and he is patient, and he knows that it will happen. He knows that Troy won’t leave him forever.</p><p>So in the meantime, he is getting on with life as best as he can.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Timeline 1 </em>
</p><p>“It hasn’t become the darkest timeline,” Abed whispers, because somewhere along the way he has stopped being evil.</p><p>“There is no darkest timeline. It’s all just things that happen, and what we do with them.”</p><p>Abed looks at Troy, his eyes glistening. “I thought you would leave me if we stopped doing this. Whatever we were doing. I can’t even remember, it all seems so useless now.”</p><p>“It was kind of useless,” Troy agreed. “But listen. We have years. We can fix everything. Starting with ourselves.” He holds out a hand to Abed. Abed takes it weakly and stands up.</p><p>“I didn’t think you loved me.”</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Timeline 6 (BRITTA LEAVES) </em>
</p><p>Troy and Abed are kissing. They have just told each other what they should have known for years.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Timeline 1 </em>
</p><p>Troy wipes away a tear from Abed’s cheek. “I don’t think we can ever not love each other. Not in a single timeline.”</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Prime Timeline (Two Years Later) </em>
</p><p>“Troy!” Abed screams from the dock.</p><p>“Abed!” </p><p>They run into each other’s arms, and the universe relaxes a bit.</p><p>For the first time since 2011, every timeline is bright.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>i'm sorry if any of this fic didn't make sense i wrote it in a rush at one am and it made sense in my head</p></blockquote></div></div>
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